


Firelight

by haughtytrait



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Ascended Rhaast, Established Relationship, Fluff, Kayn and Rhaast have separate bodies but their minds are still connected in certain ways, M/M, kind of because hes not really there? but he is. but hes not <3, minimal proof-reading it's 2am, they dont say it because Theyre Like That but they love eachother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:15:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26114788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haughtytrait/pseuds/haughtytrait
Summary: 'The edges of Kayn's vision were hazy with sleep, the smoke over the fire distorting the image of his partner further. The being who sat across from Kayn was not the Rhaast he knew as intimately.'Kayn isn't quite sure of what he saw. Or who he saw.
Relationships: Shieda Kayn/Rhaast
Comments: 14
Kudos: 70





	Firelight

**Author's Note:**

> hey so...it's been a while!
> 
> whilst working on my other fic (which is STILL a wip, it's not abandoned dw) i hit a very significant block which turned into 'wow i haven't written anything in 6 months'. this started as something to work out that block, ended up going back to it recently, hated most of it and rewrote it until it was something i'm happy with :)
> 
> inspired by that one scene in porco rosso where fio wakes up and sees marco's true face for like 2 seconds and it's ambiguous if he really changed or not. i saw it redrawn as another ship i like and wanted to give it a try 😌 enjoy!

Kayn awoke slowly from dreams of Shuriman sands, the brilliant gold slipping endlessly through his fingers in exchange for the lush green grass of the Ionian forests. Since Rhaast had garnered a body from an easily-deceived Ionian bruiser Kayn found their unique connection was not entirely severed. He couldn't hear Rhaast in his head but found he still felt Rhaast's emotions in close proximity - anger curling off him like steam that wound his muscles and stung his eyes, pleasure like warm honey on the back of his tongue and the rare drowsiness clinging to Kayn back and shoulders like a damp fog.

Similarly their dreams still intermingled and Kayn re-lived Shuriman glory once more. He never quite managed to ask Rhaast what he thought of the Noxian barracks, the thought of having to possibly face those memories again locking the words in his throat. The only confirmation Kayn had was waking up to Rhaast pulling him closer. One of the rare nights Kayn had snuck Rhaast inside the temple until morning he awoke being drawn into an almost suffocating embrace. Metal talons ran through his long hair in an attempt to be soothing and the hot, carved iron of Rhaast's faceplate pressed into Kayn's throat hard enough to bruise. When calling Rhaast's name got no response Kayn just returned the embrace, following the hardened flesh around the blades in Rhaast's back with the tips of his fingers. Rhaast had the care to be quiet on the nights Kayn woke up shaking and Kayn would do the same. As Kayn was just on the cusp of sleep he heard Rhaast's promise; "We'll watch them burn - together." and Kayn couldn't quite put a name to the emotion it drew from within his chest, not yet. They held eachother until late into next morning, Rhaast risking discovery with his insistence to keep Kayn half-asleep on his chest. Kayn longed to feel that same secondhand serenity when Rhaast watched the morning sunlight catch the gold in his eyes.

Only on those nights did Rhaast really 'sleep', breathing a deep relaxed rumble in his chest like a sleeping dragon and heat secreting from the glowing core of his chest like their breath. He was not human and admitted he rarely needed to rest at all. Once when he had his original body his tirades carried on for weeks, months at a time as an unstoppable hellish force, nothing able to stand in his way - or so Rhaast told Kayn. He possibly just liked to show off, because there were nights Kayn awoke when Rhaast was not and simply watched whatever the darkin akin was to 'sleep'. He wouldn't admit the simple pleasure, if he did Rhaast may stop doing so all together around him. So tonight, staying still in the sleeping bag he brought out with him, Kayn opened his eyes and hoped to catch Rhaast asleep by his side.

It took Kayn a moment to find him, propping himself up on his elbow, leaning against a tree opposite him with the fire between them. Rhaast's great scythe was led across his thighs, casually spread as he leaned back against the thick, reclined trunk. It wasn't unlike how Kayn had held it when he polished the blade in his room back when he had one at Kinkou. The eye was wide open and gazing ahead, glazed over now that it had no body occupying it, but the staff still alive and throbbing with molten embers. The edges of Kayn's vision were hazy with sleep, the smoke over the fire distorting the image of his partner further, the light bathing everything in amber. Deep shadows were created in the hard edges of Rhaast's body, his towering form casting one behind him and up into the leaves - though they noted a different shape. The being who sat across from Kayn was not the Rhaast he knew as intimately.

Still tall and broad, the carapace and iron had been torn from his flesh, regrown skin now a rich bronze. The firelight made the golden Shuriman symbols beginning at his shoulders glow brilliantly, blending slowly into sigils on the back of his hands still tending to the weapon, separated from his wrists with golden braces. His musculature was that of a warrior, what sculptures dreamed of encapsulating in stone. No doubt a likeness of what Kayn was seeing was carved into the wall of a far away tomb by Rhaast's worshippers of the past. As Rhaast shifted his muscles tensed and Kayn's mouth went dry. He counted each defined curve of Rhaast's abdomen carefully as he followed them up, over his chest littered in paling scars, strong shoulders backed by curtain of long dark hair, the strong carve of his jawline, a single stripe of gold painted down over the middle of his bottom lip, hooking under his chin and ending at the striking red of his eyes framed in dark shadow. It was different to the usual glow of his eyes, deeper and leaning more to a brown elevated by the fire. As Kayn tried to bring the wavering image into focus, leaning forward as he counted the flecks of scarlet light in Rhaast's eyes they turned sharply towards him. The rich brown had suddenly caught fire, pupils a striking familiar slit of white.

Kayn looked away quickly as if it had scalded him, closing his eyes tight and rubbing them. When he looked back Rhaast was sat up, scythe still resting across his lap and eyes glowing in the metal of his faceplate. His long horns grew out beside his head, complimenting the great shadows Kayn had first spotted in the leaves. When Kayn said nothing Rhaast spoke, tilting his scythe across his lap as he shifted. "Can't sleep?"

Kayn blinked at Rhaast, bewildered, then rocked back to rest on his side. He rubbed his eyes a last time and blinked a bit harder, as if something caught in them would possibly be hiding whatever he just witnessed. When nothing changed he let out a long sigh through his nose, the only other sound the crackle of the campfire. He watched that instead, let the smoke distort the Rhaast in his peripheral vision. "I-...yeah, can't sleep." He finally answered, voice a dejected mumble. He didn't look up when he heard Rhaast stand, only hearing the scythe replaced next to his sleeping bag before his vision was filled with Rhaast's kneeling form. He stared at the familiar carve of his body, naked muscle fused with metal and hard caripis. He was impossibly tempted to let himself fall into it, knowing Rhaast would only mildly tease him if Kayn insisted on draping himself over his lap like a lazy cat. Instead he followed the his body up once more, trying to conjure back the mirage of a man lost to the sand.

Rhaast's eyes were alight, supernatural bloody torches set back inside his skull. For millennia they had finalized the gorey demise of thousands, the last sight man saw as he was dragged roaring and sobbing into the horror of oblivion. Caught in his gaze Kayn exhalled, feeling at ease once more. Rhaast's clawed hand cupped his jaw, the sharp edges threatening to nick the bone if Rhaast wasn't so careful. Only with Kayn.

Rhaast's head tipped to one side, shifting the light on his horns. Kayn could feel it even if he tried not to, not quite unease but something close. Rhaast was trying to read Kayn, knowing well enough this wasn't the usual routine when he woke up from something particularly foul. He was looking for something in Kayn's expression but Kayn was controlled, bottom lip jutting out in the slightest disgruntled pout from just waking up. Before he could speak Kayn cut him off - "What?" Rhaast’s metal face didn’t move. And then stronger Kayn pressed. “Why are you staring at me?” A challenge to voice what exactly Rhaast was thinking, a challenge he ultimately (not unexpectedly) wouldn’t rise to. After a moment Rhaast tipped Kayn’s jaw, thumb stroking over his cheek and Kayn turned to kiss his palm instead. “Lay with me.” He murmured against it, cupping his own hand around Rhaast’s to make it cup his cheek.

A low rumble as Rhaast laughed, red light pulsating in the gaps between his metal teeth and slits for his eyes like a fire being stroked. “Can’t sleep alone?” He chiddled even as he drew the covers back from Kayn, creating a space for himself beside him. Even with the room his huge body was left half uncovered, Kayn climbing onto his chest both to give them both some cover and because he was just used to their sleeping arrangements by now.

“I could,” Kayn reasoned, hesitating as Rhaast's claws returned to their rightful place in Kayn's long hair, combing through it and leading it to cascade down his back. Sighing as tension began to melt from his body, Kayn returned the sentiment. He scooted up Rhaast's chest, getting his hands behind his head and beginning to scratch at the base of it. He was mindful of the sharp blades as he dragged his nails down to the back of his neck. “But I don’t want to.”

After a moment Rhaast's stroking hand faltered, Kayn watching satisfied as his lover groaned and his head lolled back onto the bed roll as it always did. Kayn laughed, turning into a warm chuckle that hummed against Rhaast's throat as he pressed a kiss to it. “Humans,” Kayn felt the somewhat strained rumble against his lips. “So... _clingy._ ” Kayn hummed, leading a slow trail of kisses down Rhaast’s neck. He lingered at the pulse and let it throb against his lips, if he focused he could conjure up the image of the molten core in Rhaast’s chest. His heart, like Kayn held it in his hands.

Sharp claws trailed lazily down his back, tracing his spine and Kayn shivered. "Tomorrow we head south?" Rhaast asked, evidently trying to collect his thoughts from between Kayn's fingers. Kayn lifted his head, pressing a kiss to Rhaast's chin who after a moment managed to lower it. Even though Rhaast didn't have much capability to emote Kayn could always find a softness there. _A solace_.

"Mmhm. We follow the river until the coast." Kayn cupped the back of Rhaast's head, following where flesh wove into the helmet and leaning up to kiss the fanged cage that was Rhaast's mouth. "Some time to ourselves." Rhaast's eyes narrowed, the only implication of a smile, steam seeping from between his fangs and flushing Kayn's cheeks. He drew Kayn closer in his arms, pulling the covers over the two of them and feeling Kayn instantly laze at the swell of heat between their enclosed bodies.

When Rhaast tried to meet Kayn’s gaze it was looking past him, up above and besides his head where his hands were now slowly curling, tracing sharpened curves. Rhaast had no feeling in his horns but it was still interesting to watch Kayn inspect them. (Not that Rhaast could without a mirror, being 9 foot tall and stupidly wide.) A slight furrow in Kayn’s brow told Rhaast something was wrong even if his aura wasn’t already, the odd feeling Kayn had carried since he’d awoken curdling inside his head and tightening his jaw. Perplexed, searching for something he couldn’t find.

Rhaast used Kayn’s position to his advantage, without balance he could draw him closer easily with arms around his chest. He held the surprised man still, pressing his fangs into Kayn’s cheek in a mock kiss. The hissing steam he exhaled must have burned, Rhaast’s whole body running like a furnace regular humans could never get this close to. One of the (scarcely admitted) many reasons why Rhaast liked Kayn - because he _could_.

It did the job beautifully. Kayn’s own rushing exhale was shaky, hands hung loosely still around his horns. “ _Rhaast,_ ” He sighed, distracted by the rough scrape of metal he’d long since learned was a war darkin’s kiss. When a fang caught his jaw Kayn’s arms fell back over Rhaast’s shoulders, embracing him loosely as Rhaast rumbled with a satisfied laugh. Whatever noise Kayn made to coincide it he would blame on anything else.

“You're thinking too loud.” Rhaast commented, rubbing his cheek into Kayn’s once. Kayn begrudgingly let himself be held, nose scrunching at the directness of the comment. Even then his arms curled once more around Rhaast’s neck, slotted carefully between the blades in his back. To himself he could admit this was nice, cocooned so completely in warmth it was making his body like lead and his thoughts even more difficult to hold onto. He let out a displeased hum all the same, earning him another comforting press of fangs at the side of his head. His fate was truly sealed when bladed fingers returned to combing through his long hair, words now truly beyond him. “Just sleep.”

In the ensuing quiet Rhaast’s breathing settled into what could be mistaken as growling, hand stilled at the back of Kayn’s neck, breaths rattling roughly against the inside of his throat Kayn now fondly regarded as purring. The crackle of a slowly dying fire, still determined, bathed the clearing in soft amber light and cast interesting shadows against the trees. Kayn’s half-open eyes tried to squint over the thin plumes of smoke but couldn’t tell if the wavering shadows were his own mind or his magic. He gave up, moving only enough to nestle his head in Rhaast’s neck. He let the beat of Rhaast’s heart lull him back into a Shuriman Oasis, dreaming he led with a man he now knows in his third life.

His eyes are on fire and his tattoos are gold.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos/comments are appreciated! 💕


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